As I stated before, I spent a good deal of this summer brainstorming ideas and gathering resources for the new school year. One of the main areas we needed to improve upon was Geography – and by “we”, I mean ME included.

SO…this fantastic month of November ALL of my posts will relate to/revolve around GEOGRAPHY!

Are you excited?
As excited as you can be about Geography?
Well stick around, you might be surprised by how EXCITING it can get!

That Was Then, This Is Now!

In the past several years Geography has consisted of pointing to maps in our texts and labeling a large markable map that came with our curriculum. Unfortunately, while we were always faithful to complete the task, it somehow wasn’t doing the trick.

It was too rote.
It wasn’t interesting.
It didn’t “stick”.
We needed something MORE.

Since Texans do everything BIGGER I figured it was about time for me to live out my state creed.

So, this is what I did:

First, I ordered some map tacks, some with flags and some without, from Amazon.

Then, the very next day I drove out to our nearest teacher supply store (a half hour away – geez louise we need one in this town) and purchased two full-size, non-laminated maps – a world map and one of the United States.

Finally, Emelie helped me move the apple-green dry goods pantry out of the schoolroom to open up a large span of wall space. With the wall ready for use, I affixed the maps to the cork bulletin board; when Jeff returned home from work we hung one atop the other on the wall.

The maps were an immediate hit.

A “Worldy” Treasure

Jeff and I kicked off the map labeling by using the flag map tacks to label where each of the kids were born. Then, we added all the places we’ve lived as a family. Finally, the kids labeled all the places they’ve ever visited.

The first evening the maps were up, we all stood around them for over an hour thinking of all the places we’ve been, reliving memories, and discussing where we’d like to go. Before turning in for bed, each of the kids selected a map tack color to use this school year when labeling locations from their Read Alouds, Independent Readers, and History texts.

The next day, wanting to help make our maps “come alive”, I pulled out the photo of the kids’ visit to the Inner Space Cavern in Georgetown, Texas. Their Uncle Don and Aunt Betty had them over to spend the night and took them to see Texas’ best preserved cave, discovered by a Texas Highway Department core drilling team in the Spring of 1963.

Using a piece of yarn, we tied-in the photo with the actual location on our World Map.

Then, I suggested we cross-map label, and so Meredith helped me stretch the string from the photo up to the U.S. Map and label it there as well.

A day or two later, when Kenny and I finished reading Red Sails to Capri, we decided to look online to see if the Blue Grotto on the Island of Capri was a real place. We were delighted to see that it WAS real – and just as beautiful as the book described.

After watching several of the YouTube videos, we printed off a couple of our favorite photos from Google images and affixed them to our cork bulletin board.

Kenny quickly located Italy and labeled the Island of Capri. Again, we used yarn to tie-in the photos to the location.

The kids and I quickly decided we wanted The Blue Grotto to be our next field trip! So, if any of you want to send our family of five to Italy – let us know.

ANYWAY…

I look forward to watching the maps “fill-out” over the course of this year. We talked about adding more photos, drawings, pamphlets from places we visit or write to learn about, and of course, more labels.

I was amused a few weeks ago when Kenny led Jeff into the schoolroom to show him where the country of Oman was located (it was his World History lesson of the day).

“Look Daddy, Oman is slightly northeast of Yemen. And did you know that before they found oil their main trade was Frankincense?”

I kid you not.

I’m not sure if it’s the size of the wall maps, the proximity, the visual cue, or how interactive we’re making it, but the kids’ haven’t lost interest and even share with each other the places they labeled that day.

We’re only a couple of months into our school year and all four of us have learned and retained more about Geography than we have in the past several years.

What are you doing to make Geography come alive? Is it a big focus for your homeschool or does it get pushed aside/tucked away like ours did for so many years?

About the Author: Tired of feeling overwhelmed, Heather Sanders and her husband Jeff faithsized their family into a 960 square foot lake cabin in need of renovation. She writes about faith and simplifying your desires so you can be content right here and right now.

127 Comments and 26 Replies

Maps are such interesting things. My friend has one stuck on the wall above her dining table and it always results in wonderful conversations about where we’ve been and want to go – and games of finding cities, countries, rivers. And we’re well beyond school age!

Barb On Tuesday, November 2 at 11:03 am

What an excellent idea! I’ve always loved maps and travel, and I think I may need to copy your friend’s idea. Thanks!

Michelle M'Belle On Monday, November 1 at 5:58 am

@Michelle
I work in GIS so I’m right there with you! My friends/family are always contacting me asking where such and such city is or such and such region. Occasionally I am scared by the questions (such as where is San Diego) but then I (try to) remember that not everyone thought memorizing the Countries of the World map in 3rd grade was a fun activity.

I like what you’ve done with the map – the adding of pictures to it. We have a huge map on the wall with pins indicating where we’ve been, but I never thought to add string and photos too, what a great idea!

Carolyn On Thursday, November 4 at 2:12 am

I have a sand collection in baby food jars. As a missionary I got samples myself and from other missionaries and general travelers before it became illegal to transport it into the US. We pasted a huge 8 ft tall map of the world on one wall, and the children placed the different colored sand and soil on a table and tied string from each jar to it’s location on the map. This could be done with traveling in the US or your home state as well. It is amazing how many different textures and colors of sand and soil there are. We even added soil from historical places, such as Abraham Lincoln’s boyhood home and Appamattox Courthouse. The children also used the map in devotionals, laying hands on a particular country as they prayed for others.

4

Gypsy Electra On Monday, November 1 at 6:12 am

Looks like you ought to visit the East Coast!

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Ann On Monday, November 1 at 6:18 am

My only recommendation is that you move the USA map up to the top of the bulletin board. Any photos that get pinned to the USA map will likely also get pinned to the world map and you will find that easiest if the photo is at the bottom of the USA map. The location of the world map does not matter because not all photos will be tied to the USA map so you could place a photo at the bottom of the world map and still tie it in to the correct place. (I know this may not be an issue now but when you’re map starts to fill up during the year, it might help but it will be too hard to move the map on the bulletin board at that point.

Great pictures and making geography fun for sure. I always loved geography much better than history. Also Ree, I tried your spaghetti squash recipe and it was awesome and definately a dish to do again soon. I took your advice and added some Crown Royal and OMG. Thanks for the tip.
Odie

Brilliant idea!! We, too, have gigantic maps hanging. We haven’t marked them like this, though. Love it! We have printed lots of pictures of places we have been. I printed them in sepia and framed them in simple white maps with black frames. Each is labeled in the lower corner with the name of the place. Our hallway is lined with these pictures. It’s like a scrapbook on the walls, but it is also really pretty. We also use the Geography Songs to help us memorize different things, like all the territories and provinces of Canada, the states along the northern border of the US, etc. (http://www.audiomemory.com/geography.php) We are going to have to figure out a way to incorporate your idea, too!

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heidig On Monday, November 1 at 6:37 am

Great idea! I was never into geography but this looks like a fun way to learn about it.

9

anne DeRuiter On Monday, November 1 at 7:18 am

My kids are still little (6, 7, 8) so we haven’t done a lot of geography yet, but we have a globe hanging from the ceiling in the living room (of all places). It often gets used as a tetherball, but it’s quite handy when someone on the tv mentions a place (such as during the Olympics) and we can grab the globe and see where that place is relative to where we live.

It’s ideas like this that make me so excited about starting school with my kids – I can hardly wait! I get to start preschool next year. But I think I should get a state map up now – we could start tracking the Ingall’s trek in “Little House on the Prairie” with my 4 year old! Even if it’s over his head, Mamma might learn something…LOL

My kids love and adore maps and mapping but somehow the whole “marking” up the map just doesn’t happen – ever!!! And certainly never while we are actually reading… Needless to say … I say we will do it later as a project and we just never ever do… You have inspired me… I seriously need to find some wall space, we have door space but that is never wide enough for a world map. Don’t you just wish you could by a large piece of wall somewhere!!! Off to hunt…

We’re new to homeschooling..this is the start of our second year, with our oldest in 1st grade. We have a small house, and do our schooling at the kitchen table. So everyday our school gets put away. I agree se7en! We just need to do it! I was thinking of doing this on a smaller scale…perhaps something that can clip to our easel. I’m off to hunt too!

Yep, that’s our problem, too. Hopefully we can enclose the back porch before too many years go by. Our 1850 stone house walls aren’t real cooperative with allowing me to hang things: stone is pretty stubborn. Right now I’m just schooling one, but the two others will start in a couple years, and then I’ll NEED more space. LOVED this idea with the maps. Now, if I can just keep it in my memory bank until we have the space to do it! I think I need to make a file of ideas somewhere.

I am determined to teach my kids geography so I ordered a complete set of GEOmap puzzles from Dr.Toy on Amazon. My twins are 13 and we are working our way through the continents. We started in September with Latin America. First, we put the map together every morning. Then we play a game where two of us close our eyes and the third person removes one puzzle piece. Then we have to guess which country is missing. We followed this up during the last month with an in-depth report on one country (We chose Peru because Grandma had recently visited there). The girls had to research the language, religion, politics, culture and history and present a report, composition style. The whole project ended up including a history lesson and a language arts lesson as well. So far, so good. Even mom know where Suriname is now.

Anissa On Wednesday, November 10 at 9:27 am

That was a Great idea! I love how when you get going on a project, it always leads to other questions and ideas…..and learning just goes crazy!

We did the same with the large maps, but never thought of tying in photos and string. Great idea! What we did add was comparison of antique maps to current ones – we always look for old atlas’ at book sales -they’re usually very cheap, and the differences – even in USA maps- is fascinating. And don’t get us started on Africa. They could do a new map every year and it would be current…

hamadryad On Monday, November 1 at 7:57 am

This is awesome! You might consider using cork tiles instead of the boards you have currently. It’ll give you a bigger “buffer” zone for the photos and etc that you want to hang.

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Leslie K On Monday, November 1 at 7:57 am

My kids and I have just started using the board game 10 Days in the USA, a geography game. We really enjoy it so far. If you’re looking for fun ways to incorporate geography into your day, check out this series. THey have Asia and Europe also…and maybe Africa.

One thing I used to do and will probably do next year was pick a country of the month. My daughter was responsible to research and answer some basic questions about the country. We would cook something from that country, color the map and flag and compile a short report on it with what we learned. You could also incorporate an art project from that country. I would definitely use your suggestions with the maps too

I love geography! About to start my Masters next year in it, even though I am a cooking, history and law teacher – geography another area of passion I haven’t ventured far into!

I’d love to get some good maps like that for my walls of my lounge room to mark my own travels on – we need better map shops here in Australia!!

17

DeeDee On Monday, November 1 at 8:03 am

We discovered a fun series of books by Peter Arenstam about a mouse named Nicholas. He travels through one of the New England states in each book. We started with the book about Massachusetts (our home state) and labelled the geographic features and cities that Nicholas visited on an outline map printed off the internet. Then I found some other stories about those places at the library. My kids loved it and it really helped the information “stick” in my six-year-old’s brain!

We just read “How to make an apple pie and see the world” and made little sticky notes to label all those places on our wall map. We’ve had a wall map up for years and years and it’s a fantastic way to make learning geography a very natural thing.

We also have several family members and missionaries we support livinv overseas so those are labeled with pushpins and pictures. Makes it much more real to my children!!

We’ve also traveled almost 13,000 miles in the past 6 months, which has given them a reeeeealy good idea of how big the US is!

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Gail Parmentier On Monday, November 1 at 8:39 am

My girls are only in Kindergarten. I picked up a workbook that highlights different countries of the world. They are almost done with it, so I thought once we went through it we’d go back & try to find a food that we could cook together from each country. That’s my thought for now~ we’ll see how well it works out.

Geography really came to life when we started sponsoring through Compassion International. Suddenly, my three girls had a real passion for learning more about these various countries since we actually knew someone who lived there! Now,we have 7 Compassion kids in 7 different countries and we’ve come to know a lot about those locations and the surrounding areas. We may have to eventually add more kids to our family so we can have one in each of the 26 countries where Compassion works.

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Shelly On Monday, November 1 at 8:58 am

I admit, geography is usually an afterthought in our homeschool. We have the maps, the globe, the atlas, the puzzles… and we refer to the maps when we talk about history and science, but I never thought about using pictures and postcards with string like that. I bet my kids would LOVE that! We have family and friends on other continents, we know missionaries, we know people that travel extensively, and we have taken some trips of our own too. We could gather pictures and postcards like that!
Another cool thing my kids use that is particularly fun for geography is the free website http://www.sheppardsoftware.com They have all kinds of educational games, but it’s how my kids learned the states, continents, oceans… and all that jazz.

In my classroom, I themed a bulletin board with maps and the title “See Where Books Have Taken Us!”. After the students (5th graders) read a book that had a real location, they would fill out a little suitcase template about the book. Then, we would post them and use the string and map tacks just like you did above. By the middle of the year, the board was COVERED in string and suitcases, and the students LOVED finding the settings of their books on the map.

Lisa On Monday, November 1 at 9:23 am

As a geographer in heart and in profession – THANK YOU!

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Karly On Monday, November 1 at 9:24 am

My son is 1st grade, and we use Little Passports. The intro kit had a mini suitcase, a world map, a “passport”, introductory letter, and so on. Each month, he gets mail from the two characters with a letter talking about the country they visited, a passport stamp, a sticker to mark the map, and stuff from that country…for Brazil, it was a piece of amethyst and a toucan wooden puzzle, for Japan it was origami paper and directions and a sushi shaped eraser…pictures also come with it. You also get a “boarding pass” with a code on it for the website that gives you access to activities for that country. He loves it! We make whichever country we get be the focus for that month, and we try to read books about it, read stories or books from that particular country, and we plan a meal with food from that country and invite the grandparents over. It’s made geography really fun, and it’s good for the younger set!

We also like the sheppard software website that Shelly mentioned in the previous post.

I really like the idea of the adding the photos to the wall maps too…thanks!!

I just had to click over!! I am doing 2 weeks worth of home decor map projects on my blog along with a map party with ideas this friday. I love this map!! Yes it may be used to school your kids — but it also looks FABULOUS!!

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Lacey On Monday, November 1 at 9:31 am

It sounds like you’ve really been able to take geography to the next level with your kids. When I was young, my parents bought me a globe and we would spend hours spinning it around, pointing at cities and countries. Geography is a great subject that combines many disciplines: social studies, history, science. In high school and college I had to memorize maps of the continents and label countries and capital cities from memory. That was less fun, but still very helpful.

We never seem to do our “markable map” assignments, and this year I bought a huge world map to put on the wall. I need to add a separate one of the U.S. but don’t really have any more wall space due to all our bookshelves. I don’t have a bulletin board behind our map, so we’ve been using those post-it note arrows. I love what you can do with the tacks and string, though, so now I want a bulletin board! When I was a kid, my dad was in the Navy and was gone most of the time. We had a world map and would mark it with pins whenever we got a postcard from him so we could “see” where he was. It was a great way to learn about the world and to have a visual idea of where Dad was.

If you have a decent Internet connection speed, Google Earth is a great tool too. I don’t use any of the annotations or links but they are probably useful — I mainly use it to get a sense of “space” in areas, and what the geography really looks like. You can zoom in to a decent level and start scrolling around to get a feel for distances and the real sizes of features.
.
For instance, Hawaii looks pretty small and far away on the map, but zoom in a bit in Google Earth, start at Los Angeles then scroll westward and try to find the islands.
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Maybe it’s just me, but the map really sinks in that way and becomes more “real”.

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3kidmama On Monday, November 1 at 9:50 am

We have a shower curtain world map which due to bathroom layout is hanging across from the “throne”. We’ve played this long running game we call “Where in the world is Osama?” We keep a dry erase marker and plastic post-it stickers by the sink. One person write a country/city/river/mountain range on the mirror with the marker. The next person that comes along and find that place on the map puts a stickie on the location for others to see. They then erase the location and write their own place that Osama is hiding on the mirror and on it goes.
When cousins and friends come over, they come out of the bathroom and ask if they can play too – of course! Our girls are entering college now and they know their geography inside and out – without having to do much formal studying!

Maggie, check the archives for my post on SpellingCity.com. It is a great tool and we still use it with Kenny (2nd grade).

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Allison Smith On Monday, November 1 at 9:55 am

I’m not a homeschooler and I don’t even have children, but I LOVE this idea. I have some large, very bare walls in my hallway and some interactive maps would be fun to put there. I can only imagine the conversations we will have with our friends and family who visit. In addition to our own travels, I can see this as being a great way to keep up with what is happening in the international news. Thanks for a great idea!

Heather C. On Monday, November 1 at 5:08 pm

We framed several city maps we used during our travels. The girls love looking at them and pointing out to new friends and family all the cool places we visited in each city. We also have a dollar store USA map (laminated!!) in the bathroom. Not only did we look at each with each ahem..visit but we also mapped our various cross country routes and places we wanted to travel to and thru next! I have to say the girls are better at their USA geography then I was at their age!

Our neighbor works at a printing company and gave me two huge wall maps, one of the US and one of the world. My son loves them, though I have not utilized them as well as you. Recently we picked up a globe at Goodwill, which has helped him visualize the layout better (flat maps are deceptive that way).

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esavvymom On Monday, November 1 at 9:58 am

I LOVE IT!!! OMG….that is so awesome. You’ve answered a question I’ve had. Whenever we are doing history or reading, I try to show them the maps and such, but you’re right. It is so BLAH! But the photos, the maps, the pins….absolutely perfect. I’m even a little teary-eyed because I’m excited to do this with my boys. They’ll love it. They are very hands on too. Man…I need to get out more.

This is our 4th year, but the real “MEAT” year (2nd & 3rd grade). I also feel it’s the “make or break” years in getting them interested.

Thank you! Please keep sharing. I’ve learned so much from your ideas!

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calimommi On Monday, November 1 at 10:12 am

For physical world geography ~ Runkle Geography! It is a comprehensive physical geography curriculum with intriguing hands on activities.

Anyway, for what it’s worth… most of the states [their visitors bureau] and other places will sometimes offer to send you info FOR FREE in the snail mail. Just takes a Googling and a scanning of their website to find a link for ‘more info’ or something like that.

I’m staring at my wall map right now. Realizing I haven’t changed much of the walls for a long, long time.

SHAME ON ME!!!

I’m giving away a signed copy of my newly released romantic comedy with cowboys, Lassoed in Texas. Go leave a comment http://www.seekerville.blogspot.com
to get your name in the drawing.

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Kristina On Monday, November 1 at 10:20 am

OOoh! I’m getting my PhD in geography right now! So hooray! A huge part of geography that I think gets overlooked a lot (I know I didn’t really think about it until grad school) is that the heart of geography is figuring out why things are where they are. So we study topics like why do sea turtles nest where they do (my focus), why do streams in some areas behave differently than others, why do certain cultures have certain traditions, etc etc etc. Everything can be geography! Even things like why people live where they live!

Oh, oh, oh, raising my hand! I love this reply- I got so into the ‘why’ of geography when I was teaching my homeschool group U.S.geography that I ended up creating a blog for my once a week world geography class. I am trying to make it more internet friendly, not just for classroom use. The ‘why’ is the part that really makes geography fun and easy to remember! I am hoping to create a U.S. geography blog too. Good luck Kristina- I think when I am finally done homeschooling I am going back to school to be a geography teacher. Great post as usual Heather!

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AnnieInOC On Monday, November 1 at 10:27 am

Thank you so much for posting this. I am going to adapt this idea for my geography loving 50 year old self!

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Carolyn On Monday, November 1 at 10:35 am

Hi! I am also in the piney woods and we’re doing bunches of geography, although our focus is on the U.S. this year. Since your family is a “board game family”, you might want to get the game Great States!. It’s been a hit with my two boys, ages 13 and 10.

Now, I must go get my pic from Inner Space Caverns and yarn, so we can copy your great idea!

That’s interesting because my family thought it was a bit of a yawn (Great States).

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Pam the Goatherd On Monday, November 1 at 10:41 am

My whole family LOVES maps. My oldest son, who is now 25, likes to create maps of new places from his imagination in his leisure time. When we were homeschooling it was normal for us to sit down an pore over maps regularly.

As an adult I absolutely LOVE the Google Maps – satellite view. If I am reading a book – whether novel or non-fiction – that mentions a location, I like to go directly to the computer and look it up on Google. A really fun feature that can give a whole new perspective is the “street view”. You can actually walk down a street and see what is there. This feature is only available for the bigger cities around the world, but it is a fantastic way to see what other places are like without having to buy plane tickets!

Jazzy On Monday, November 1 at 10:48 am

I don’t homeschool, but WOW this is a great idea! I might have learned more about geography with something like this!. Pretty cool–especially adding the pics!

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Jade A On Monday, November 1 at 11:00 am

I’m not homeschooling, but I love geography and just wanted to say that sporcle.com has some great quizzes. In addition to the “Name the Countries of ___ Continent” they also have fun ones, like 4 letter countries, countries with no A, and so on. Lots of subjects and variety so I guess it may not all be kid-appropriate (not really sure) but I personally like playing because it forces you to think about them in different ways, not just catalog it like “Mongolia is north of China” if that makes sense.

I used to have the World’s Worst Job doing phone surveys. I tacked a map of the US up in my cubicle and take a minute between calls to find town with names that made me snicker. I’m mature that way.

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Mrs.W On Monday, November 1 at 11:36 am

First of all…. I LOVE Innerspace Cavern!!! I went to college in Texas and went on a field trip there with a class I was student teaching in. It is sooo cool!

Second, we do geography kind of haphazardly. We look places up when ever we don’t recognize a name or location. We recently listened to Treasure Island and the kids mapped out the locations that were real in the story so that they could understand where Jim was talking about. I would like to do more with it but I haven’t been able to make it really “fit” into our curriculum in a way that makes sense. So for now our hit and miss I figure is better than none.

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Diane Taggart On Monday, November 1 at 11:45 am

One year we posted a big USA map in our hallway. When the Christmas cards started arriving, the kids would run a piece of red yarn from the card to the city on the map. It was fun to see how many states were represented. The *kids* are now 30 & 33 but still remember that year fondly.

Andrea D. On Monday, November 1 at 11:47 am

I have to tell you, we don’t really plan on homeschooling our son, BUT I think this is the greatest idea to put onto the playroom wall! I’m so excited. I think being able to connect actual places, pictures and stories with a map would really really help him (and I’ll be honest, ME!) learn countries and various landmarks.
Oh, also I really want that revolution book you reviewed the other day… for my son…. yeah that’s it for him. He’s 2, he will totally get into it.
I like geography and history but the way I was taught it (here memorize all these names, and dates, yay rah) did not make it exciting and it definitely did not stick for me! I think both of these things would help me and hopefully the little peanut learn!

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Jan On Monday, November 1 at 12:01 pm

We loved geography and maps and always located what we were reading about on the map. We love the National Geographic maps and have a 3-D 36″ by 72″ physical map of of Western NC and East TN available from the NPS. I recommend both. My children are homeschool grads now, but guess what? We still pour over the map that lays beneath the clear plastic tablecloth on our dining table. Enjoy every minute of your homeschooling journey.

That’s awesome! I just finished free-handing a six-foot-wide map of the US on paper for our school room wall, and the kids got to color and label all the bodies of water. This week we’re starting to explore the states, in order of their addition to the union. we’re finding out neat facts, making a state scrapbook, collecting the state quarters, and coloring our map as we go along. Plus they’ll label the states and capitals. I’ve sent away for tourist brochures from the first of our states (got Georgia’s on Saturday!) and joined a Yahoo group for homeschoolers willing to exchange postcards. We’re hoping to get postcards from as many states as possible, and the kids don’t even know they’re practicing their writing skills!

I LOVE geography You can see photos/progress updates on my little blog (link is through my name).

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Sara N. On Monday, November 1 at 1:25 pm

My major is Geography, and if i become a teacher this would be a great classroom project. Thank you for giving me this idea!!!!

Woohoo, ya’ll are teachin’ your youngens ’round ever corner. This Ozark Farm Chick just has to burst out in laughter every time I use the ‘facilities’ at my sweet DIL’s bathroom. On every wall ya can get educated. Everything from a chart of all the presidents to the periodic table. Ya can even learn Latin while washin’ up. Love it!!! :o)

God bless ya’ll from the wonderfully crisp hills and hollers of the Missouri Ponderosa!!!

I love maps and I love geography. I get giddy when I see an atlas. Seriously! LOL!

It’s kind of sad though. My nieces and nephews go to public school (and not that I’m knocking on public schools), & they barley can locate things on the map.

They have taken so much emphasis out of learning geography, state capitals, countries, country/state reports & projects, it’s really sad. I’ve been teaching them a lot though, so hopefully they have a heads up.

We also homeschool, and the highlight of the kids’ week is 15 minute Friday, where we do 15 minute reviews of their subjects. Why do they love it so? Because of Tricks for Chips. They give me right answers and they get a butterscotch baking chip, or two. We do geography bees every week this way and they love it – can’t get enough! Since we’re in Canada we have a map of Canada and a world map on the walls. I ask my 10yo things like, what is the capital of Romania? And he has to find the country and the capital. I do give hints like it’s in Europe – or if it’s an area of the world we haven’t explored much I’ll give directions like – the country is southeast of….
Even my 5 year old gets in on the action, finding continents and oceans.
I’ll have to give the map pins and yarn a try, my kids would love it!

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Ingrid On Monday, November 1 at 1:45 pm

I LOVE this idea!!! I can`t wait to implement this in my homeschool! I think I´d also like to feature one country every once in a while, reading books that take place there or talking to missionaries who live there or something. I had thought of keeping a notebook with maps and pictures, but a wall map with pictures attached is a MUCH better idea! (It´ll take less effort than a notebook and also stick better, and provide a conversation piece [automatic review] when their friends come over!

As an Unschooler (now a University of Texas sophomore) I always loved geography. My family traveled quite a bit, and I was usually in charge of planning the trips – which, of course, was more than just geography. It involved finding the best routes to go, researching the area to where we were traveling, finding out what to do once we got there, etc…

Even younger kids can do this with short day trips, once they learn to read maps. Give them a map of the city and tell them that you want to go on a field trip, then have them “direct” you once they get in the car. Of course, you might get lost a few times – but it’s a good lesson in learning to take things as they come.

I’m helping my best friend homeschool her three and a half year old, and he loves maps too. We’ve done the thumb tack thing, as well as just had him draw his own “maps.” What got him into them? Dora. It’s super elementary, but drawing Dora maps can keep a young kid occupied and teach sequencing.

Mapping out fictional worlds can be fun as well. It doesn’t teach real geography – but it does teach basic cartography skills.

If you have a decent Internet connection, Google Earth can be a great supplement to maps. Zoom in a little ways to see what the country looks like, or trace out a route as if you were on an airplane.
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(I posted a longer version of this 6 hours ago but it never showed up. Sometimes posts take a while but I figure after 6 hours it’s never going to show.)

I love the map idea! It made me think of a thing Dawn Mehan of BecauseISaidSo once did, when one of her kids had a school project.. She asked her readers world wide to send her a postcard.. Maybe you could do something like that? Or maybe Mr. Licador Licorice Laun or one of his cousins could travel the world like that gnome in The Amazing Race.. The recievers could take his picture with a local sight, and send the photo to you as a post card. That way you wouldn’t be bombed with postcards from everyone, but just the hosts. He could even travel with a log book so that every new reciever would know where he had been, and maybe try to avoid sending him to the same country twice.
I live in Denmark, and appart from the US I have online friends in both Germany, The Netherlands, UK, Indonesia, Australia and even South Africa.. I’d be glad to take the guy sightseeing, and make sure he’ll have a safe travel and a caring destination.

Oh… I have been doing the coolest geography project… we made our own USA and Canada map… wall sized… the entire wall sized… and we started writing friends, family, blog readers for postcards from each state and started filling our map… I really need to do a few more blog posts/pleas about it… we sort of dropped the ball in June… we have about 27 states and a few Canadian provinces… I can send you a link if you would like a look!! I just need to dig it up from my blog archives!! and / or write a new post!! oh… each time a post card comes in we study that state with various materials we have collected! The kids love it!~! =)

Sometimes they get held in moderation. Ree or I try to check and release them daily. Also, if a post is a day or two “old” (ha!) Ree might have a giveaway going on where she holds comments for whatever time period the giveaway requires.

I’m definitely filing this away for the future! What a great idea. I love how you incorporated the pictures, too.

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Jenn L. in VA On Monday, November 1 at 3:20 pm

This is such a GREAT idea! My son loves maps and geography. I am going to put this up on his wall so he can mark all the places we have lived and visited. He will love it!
By the way I used to live in Texas very close to Inner Space Cavern! ( My son was in fact born in TX in Hutto!)
Thanks for the idea!

I love maps and we do have a large world map up. The photos and string idea is great, thanks!

My son just loved the Usborne world sticker atlas books. I very highly recommend them for the younger set and even the older sets who love stickers I was absolutely bowled over by the amount of geography my son knew by the age of 6! Seriously, it far surpassed mine and definitely was the direct consequence of those Usborne sticker atlas books that come in all kinds of themes.

Andra On Monday, November 1 at 3:41 pm

We just read about Oman today! We LOVE Window On The World…fantastic book! This year so far we’ve purchased the Scrambled States of America, The Global Puzzle and a Milton Bradley game that I can’t remember the name of. Last year we flagged every country that participated in the winter Olympics on our big world map, that was really fun and difficult for geographically challenged people such as myself!

I love this!! We used a world map over the summer when we studied Egypt, but it looks like it’s time to pull it back out again.

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Veronica H. On Monday, November 1 at 4:36 pm

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE maps. When I was teaching 4th grade I had all kinds of maps all over my classroom. So many times I would be teaching a lesson (any subject!) and happened in a specific place. As a class we would take a quick break and find that place on the map…and because I had many different maps, the location was often on several different maps around the room and globes (they loved the globes!). There was something about making that connection to the actual location and the topic of learning for that day that helped the students remember. It would really spark their interest. Their favorite was when we would throw the glob ball around so each student could find the place.

Love it! I can’t wait to share this with my tactile learners when they’re a little bit bigger. Thank you so much for sharing it with us!

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Marcy On Monday, November 1 at 5:05 pm

My favorite subject in High School was Geography. This was solely because on the first day of class the teacher asked us to draw a map of the world… most drew (including myself) a circle with continental-ish squiggles. By the end of the semester were were able to draw a world map and label it with major features. It was a tangible learning experience that brought a great sense of accomplishment.

After a couple of years of homeschooling I had a deep need for tangible (you homeschoolers know what I’m talking about) so I decided to teach Geography to my 5th Grade son. Years later, the course morphed into a year long cartography class. Since then I’ve taught a couple dozen kids how to draw a political map of the world using the simple method of DRAW, DRAW, DRAW! The results are amazing and the kids have a great reference for history, literature, current events, travel, and even science. Recently, I started teaching little kids how to draw and label the continents and major oceans. I’m seeing 8 year olds smile with pride as they draw “Euro-Asia” from memory.

Geography is a priceless skill on so many levels!

Cary On Friday, November 5 at 3:40 pm

Please tell me you live in my neighborhood so my kids can take your class.

:o)

That sounds really cool!

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Heidi On Monday, November 1 at 5:06 pm

Our family is planning a move soon and one of the things that I’m very excited about is that our next place has a fabulous spot for a map wall. Some of our family’s favorite geography “work” has been the 10 Days games, (the new version for the America’s is out!) and the Scrambled States of America Game. We also picked up and studied a Peters Projection World Map and handbook over the summer. It was very interesting to study the ways that the map itself can reflect and affect someone’s world view. (check http://www.odt.org for maps from different perspectives.)

I am teaching 5th grade in Guatemala and our Geography/Social Studies/History section this year is North America and its colonization from England, Spain and France. We have created a huge timeline that spans the top part of our classroom wall. Every time we learn a new date we put it up. I have a huge wall map up and then I made them individual maps that they use to trace the routes of explorers and to mark French/Spanish/English territory expansion.

I love how you are getting your kids involved in Geography! Great ideas!

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Regan On Monday, November 1 at 5:37 pm

I’m not a homeschool parent. I don’t have any kids of my own. I just enjoy reading the blogs on the PW website. As an adult I’m going to school online, though, to get my own degree. I had an interesting thought for your map project. You could request postcards from people on your blog, set up a post office box or some other mail receptacle system to receive the cards and then map the cards as they come in. Set a time limit on receipt of the cards, so you won’t be mapping cards from here to the end of the school career of all your family.

I moved to the DC area over the summer and people are always asking me to send them a postcard from here. Might be an interesting project!

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Liz M On Monday, November 1 at 5:48 pm

I wasn’t homeschooled, but my family is big on road trips, so since I was born they’ve kept a map of everywhere we’ve driven! I’ve got so much covered, I love it; I’m 23 and it’s still hanging up in my apartment. 4 more states in the continental US to go!

I think it’s so sad how bad some of my friends are at US geography, so I love this idea.

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Leslie C. On Monday, November 1 at 5:48 pm

We got a great idea from the “Five in a Row” series that we use beyond that curriculum. Since we are heavily literature-based for every subject in our homeschool, we make and post “story discs” on large maps in our hallway. So for each story or place we study, we make a cardstock circle with a representative image to remind us of that story, and we affix it to the story’s location in the world. We regularly revisit these locations and stories. It has made geography come alive for our whole family.

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Angela Kelly On Monday, November 1 at 6:55 pm

We started collecting postcards to enhance our Geography! Can we send you one from Kentucky?

Anissa On Saturday, November 6 at 2:45 pm

We do ours very similarly. Each time we travel somewhere, we add a little sticker to that city on our map. The kids love dragging up chairs and studying the maps, discussing where we’ve been and where they might want to go some day. <3

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Jo in RI On Monday, November 1 at 8:04 pm

I LOVE geography. A couple of months ago I bought a great shower curtain at Target that has a world map on it. I love that even my 3 year old will randomly point out China or Japan or France or Long Island or whatever while brushing her teeth!

We used Sonlight’s maps for two years and marked them up sporadically. Now that I’m not homeschooling my older ones, I’m using one for my 3 year old to go along with the Five in a Row curriculum we’re doing for preschool. We also love the games “Name that State” and “Name that Country” as well as wooden puzzles–we have one of the US and one of Africa–thought it needs constant updating!

This fall I’m teaching an after school club at my older kids’ local public school. It’s “Around the World” club and each week we “visit” a different country–color maps and flags, taste some food, listen to some music, read a picture book, do a craft and/or play a game. I’m loving the feedback I’m getting from the other parents about what their kids are taking away from the experience.

We also do a lot of road trips since we don’t live near our families. I often have my kids look at license plates and record what states/provinces we see as we drive along. Sometimes we drag out a map in the minivan and mark the states we see. Even my six year old is getting into this, and not just on long trips.

If anyone sponsors your trip to Capri, tell them we want to tag along too. We loved that book! :o)

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Sandy On Monday, November 1 at 8:07 pm

Beth R. On Monday, November 1 at 8:09 pm

OK, my kids are the opposite– they are kind of obsessed w geography and I use geography to teach other topics (my boys are 3.5 and 5.5). I think the obsession began w the eboo game, United States Bingo and the Laurie Keller books, puzzle, and games about Scrambled States.
We have 2 big laminated maps at their eye level in their bedrooms (one world, one USA). Then World Cup Soccer came around and they loved all of the countries’ flags and they looked for them on the world map. I printed out flag coloring pages off of the internet and the also replicated them w Legos! Now that it is football season, they love to locate all of the football team’s cities on the US map. Can’t wait until they get a bit older and we can go cross country!

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Niteowl Nancy On Monday, November 1 at 8:45 pm

My son learned most of his USA geography by watching The Weather Channel, of all things!!

Also, we have a Scrambled States video that my kids really enjoy, and we love Flat Stanley.

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Merlion On Monday, November 1 at 8:47 pm

We had map placemats growing up. Since they were always on the kitchen table, they were used often to discuss Dad’s business trips, places in the news, or dream vacations.

I’m working with my 4-year-old right now, so our geography only consists of finding places we’ve discussed on our globe. I’d love to do something similar to this in the future; it looks great! I do think that being a military family will give my kids a headstart in geography. So far we have lived in 4 different states and made friends from all over the world. Army life certainly has its downsides, but my kids will know their geography. So–dang it–it’s all worth it!

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Miss Heidi On Monday, November 1 at 9:46 pm

This just reminded me: Iran over Iraq. (I ran over Iraq.) I thought this was a clever memory tool to remember their locations.
Have fun!

Melody C. On Tuesday, November 2 at 5:59 am

Thanks for putting in those links! I was scanning the posts before doing it myself! The GAW theme this year is Freshwater. It’s a good reminder to all in the U.S. that geography isn’t just people, places, and culture, but covers the physical environment too. Geography is a fantastic discipline because it bridges both the human and physical realms!

Here’s another idea- get people that you know- via the internet or otherwise- to send you postcards from places they visit or live. Then you can link to those, as well. This gives places a personal connection, much like reading stories about far off places.

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Ruth On Monday, November 1 at 10:55 pm

Great ideas! We too have large, colorful maps on our walls: one of the USA and one of the world. I love your idea with the pins! We have laminated maps though, but I did think of post it note flags. We have spent a lot of time in the car, so we have taken overhead markers and marked our travels on the US map. The flags and pictures would be a great addition! We also have a cool US map on our shower curtain.

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Nicole from Ontario On Monday, November 1 at 10:55 pm

Your ideas are spot on. Making ideas and information come to life for kids can be quite difficult and you do an amazing job!

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Amy On Monday, November 1 at 11:55 pm

I fell in love with geography in college, majored in it and still love it today, 20 years later. I love geography as a way to learn about place. I’m sure I was inspired by a game my dad used to play with us. He would take an atlas, open it randomly to a page and name five cities. We had to guess the country. He always chose states or countries according to our varying abilities. I still play it today with my kids – works very well as they learn Latin root words and various language types around the world. And, they get to quiz me! For beautiful, accurate maps, I recommend Raven Maps in Oregon. Best way to learn/remember maps? Draw it yourself. I’ve done this with kids of varying ages – the boundaries shift as they learn more about what is contained within them. Try drawing the US from one coast to the other without looking! Best done on a napkin at a restaurant.

MJB On Thursday, November 4 at 2:44 pm

My son drew a world map for a public school project — I agree drawing really made him remember where everything is located. He proudly hangs it in his room. Each student had to pick a theme as well, such as “Host Countries for Olympic Games.”

This looks like winner. At the moment, we have a UK and USA map on the wall, but the world map seems to have gone AWOL. I like the ‘string’ idea though.
You’ve inspired me – gonna get this up and running today!
Thanks
Love, Anne x

We are so new to the whole homeschool thing — but have decided to homeschool our 5 year old next year.

Part of the reason I can’t get enough of this blog is all the helpful comments that point out interesting curriculum, tips, and tricks! Before this, I wasn’t quite sure where to even begin! Just from the comments above mine I have discovered several super helpful links.

Your readers are a fabulous resource, too — and make me feel like we will rock at this whole homeschool thing.

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Sumiko On Tuesday, November 2 at 8:06 am

I’m not a homeschooler (no kids yet), but I’m a map aficionada! National Geographic will send 4 maps a year with a subscription, some of them showing things like on land and underwater seismic activity, others with historical changes in population growth, and other such cool stuff that makes geography a more interesting subject. I think any time you can make a connection between history and geography (why didn’t Napoleon succeed in conquering Russia, etc.) it makes it more interesting and more likely to stick in the ol’ brain. Yay MAPS!

When my kids were small, I put a huge world map from National Geographic on the bathroom wall opposite the toilet.

They know their countries now!

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Laura T. On Tuesday, November 2 at 9:07 am

I love maps. When I was a kid, we had a huge U. S. map hanging on the wall in our kitchen. We used a highlighter to mark all the trips we took, and my sister and I spent many an hour quizzing each other on state capitals.

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AmyE On Tuesday, November 2 at 9:10 am

You should check out ArcGIS Explorer – it’s a free program that gives one a different perspective on geography. You can add aerial photography and street layers and create your own maps. Very good way to get kids involved and keep them more interested!

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Melissa Lee On Tuesday, November 2 at 11:42 am

Do you have a PO box?? If so you could ask your readers to send post cards from their home town and you could post them on your map, or just put in a push pin to show where each card came from.
It could be interesting for your kids to see pictures of the different places all over the country.

It IS a great idea – and there have been several others giving me some really cool ideas. I’m working something in my head for a future post. Thanks!

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Melissa H. On Tuesday, November 2 at 3:03 pm

The Blue Grotto is even more amazing in person than the photos. The Island of Capri is also beautiful. I love your use of the map, what a great idea! I will have to set this up for our classroom, I’ve just been pointing to a map and I don’t think it is clicking where everything is located.